Candidate Review- GMAT Retake Dilemma

[htylerjames]

Hi All,

I recently completed my first GMAT attempt and have been struggling with deciding whether or not to pursue a retake. As will be made clear in my profile below, I'm primarily concerned with my subpar quant score. I do not proclaim to be a math wiz; verbal has always been my strong suite with quant skills being above average, but nothing particularly special.

Obviously, I would love to bring my quant up, but at this point, between work and my commitments outside of work (committees, volunteering, and special projects) it will take a significant amount of time and effort to fit in additional GMAT studying for a retake. Would the marginal increase in quant and, presumably, my overall score truly be worth it?

I'm looking at an enrollment date of 2015 or 2016 (more likely the later). General profile outline is as follows:

- GMAT
700 Overall: 40 Quant (50th percentile), 44 Verbal (98th percentile), 5.5 AWA

- Undergrad:
2.8 GPA from a large state school majoring in Finance and minoring in Economics (Weak, I know. Am considering finishing my econ double major to boost GPA or at least supplement low grades.)

- Work Experience:
Operations Analyst for bulge bracket IB w/ promotion, bonuses, raises, and multiple team and project lead roles (ex. oversaw and organized training for deployments to India, process improvement projects, Six Sigma Green Belt Certified). I also have stellar performance reviews and plenty of options for solid recs.

- Volunteering/Leadership:
Member of Firm's Philanthropy Board (must be nominated by manager; approximately 10 members), Firm Coordinator and Program Lead for Junior Achievement (aims to improve economic awareness at the middle school/high school levels), Professional Mentor for Undergrad Management School, Recruitment Board Member for Company's Undergrad Targeting Team, Actively involved in Company Mentor/Mentee Program


Target schools are as follows:
- Georgetown McDonough
- UVA Darden (stretch school)
- Duke Fuqua (stretch school)
- UNC Keen-Flagler (actively recruit at current firm)
- Wake Forest Babcock (safe, maybe...)

Post MBA Plans:
- Move from an banking operations role to revenue generating function in private banking/wealth management
- Ideally plan to focus on high-net-worth wealth management with a target market in equine and equestrian clients (competitively rode horses through high school and first year of college, was aiming for Junior Olympic team before horse was injured)

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for the detailed profile. Can definitely see your dilemma, as a 700 is a respectable score, but 50th percentile in quant is a concern to the admissions committee, especially when coupled with a below 3.0 GPA. While you do have quantitative experience in your job, anything you can do to bolster the evidence of your quant and academic ability would help. Your school list seems appropriate and appropriately-categorized in my opinion. It sounds like you've thought a lot about exactly what your post-MBA path would ideally look like, so if you can explain how your past brought you to where you are now and leads to those future goals, you should be well positioned with the biggest weakness being the GPA and quant score currently. Keep in mind schools do take the highest score and taking the exam more than once is not a problem, if you decide to go that route. Good luck and keep us posted!